Chapter 20
At exactly 8:00 am I was up and ready to go. By 8:30 I'd had a shower, brushed my teeth and changed into a pair of jeans and an oversized hoodie that was left for me just as I got out of the shower.
The moment I open the bedroom door, the smell of bacon fills my senses; making my stomach growl in yearning that reminds me at that moment that I hadn't had anything to eat the day before.
I enter the kitchen where I see different flavours of juice, a fresh fruit salad, fresh toast and various flavours of cereal neatly placed on the kitchen table. My stomach growls again as I take in the untouched food that has been prepared for me.
“Morning.” I jerk as I hear Bane's gruff like voice that stirs my attention from the kitchen table to where I see him pouring an orange juice.
Was he talking to me?
I look behind me to see if he's actually speaking to me and point to myself. “Are you talking to me?”
“Who else would I be talking to? The wall?” Bane turns his back on me to keep an eye on the bacon.
I don't know why but with Bane talking like this kind of freaks me out considering he always acts like an asshole.
“I don't know. It's just that you always look at me like I'm a piece of shit, so it's really weird that you're talking like a normal human being.” I pull out a chair and sit at the table.
He snorts. “I look at everyone like that so why should I treat you any different?”
I stare at his back with imaginable lasers - wishing it was the real thing. “Whatever.”
I pour myself some apple juice and butter a piece of toast when I hear someone coming down the stairs. The footfalls are too heavy to be Silver's and Kellan's probably at home with his dad, so when Ryder comes into view it's really hard for me to take my eyes away from him.
Oh, Lord.
He comes into the kitchen while running his hand through his freshly showered hair, wearing a tight white wife- beater that showcases his perfectly sculpted body, black jeans with his feet bare. He smiles, sits directly in front of me and pours some cranberry juice for himself. Neither of us breaks the staring contest we seem to have, but it breaks just as Silver comes barging into the kitchen over to where Bane stands.
“I'll have some of that bacon, Bane.” Silver inhales the bacon one last time before taking the seat next to Ryder.
Bane scowls from behind her. “You thought this was for you?” Bane scoffs as he holds up the bacon sandwich that immediately causes my mouth to water. “I ain't no one's bitch Silver, especially not yours.” He takes a bite of the sandwich, and walks out of the kitchen followed by a now annoyed Silver.
Ryder shakes his head. “I swear those two will be the death of me.”
“Are they that bad?” I take another sip of the apple juice.
Ryder takes the bowl of the fresh salad and dishes himself a bowl. “When they came into my pack they absolutely hated each other. Couldn't stand to be in the same room without one or the other starting a fight.”
“Why did they hate each other so much?”
He shrugs. “I can't say for sure but I think it had something to do with both of them being my Betas. You see, Silver thought that because we were sleeping together that she was entitled to being my second in command, but considering that Bane's saved my life more than once, he's gained that right for himself and he'll never give that up. I know that he comes off as rude and hot headed, but he's loyal and he's good at what he does.”
That I can believe.
“How did you make them stop fighting?”
“It was simple, I told Silver to get over it or she'll be kicked out from the pack.”
“Wow, I bet she took that well.” I say enthusiastically. After that, we finish eating our breakfast in comfortable silence. We don't talk about what might happen today or if something could go wrong, but I can only imagine the worst when it involves Max and Ryder.
After clearing the dirty dishes, I go up the stairs, into the bedroom and change into the sweats and t-shirt I wore yesterday. I don't think twice about how I look when I leave the house, and I find Ryder in a black sports car waiting for me. The moment I close the door and put my seatbelt on, we're on our way towards Max's house.
We arrive outside his house forty minutes later and throughout the whole journey, I kept asking myself if Ryder actually knew where Max lived. I know he's a wolf and all but can a wolf actually lead you to someone's house?
What am I talking about of course wolves can!
I take in the small bungalow in front of me and to be truthful I didn't expect Max to live in such a small and unkempt place. I'm not sure what I expected, but this is definitely not what I pictured.
I get out of the car with Ryder close behind and make my way towards the door. I look behind me and look at Ryder without any reason to. Maybe I'm looking at him for an answer on if we should do this or not, but when he nods at me to go on, I know I have my answer.
After knocking the first couple of times, there wasn't any sign of Max, I even called and texted him a few times to ask where he was but received no answer. When I start thinking about giving up, Ryder surprises me by moving me out of the way and kicking the front door.
“What the hell do you think you're doing? You can't just kick down someone's door!” I look around to see if anyone saw.
He kicks the door again making the door slam against the wall and break off its hinges, caused by his strength. “How else are we going to get in?”
I stand in the doorway debating whether to go into the house or not. “We could've just waited for Max to get here!”
“Nah, that doesn't work for me.”
I roll my eyes. “Nothing ever works for you, does it?”
His head swings to my direction. “What the hell does that even mean?”
“Nothing. Just forget it.” I go into the house and look around. We stand across from each other in the living area in complete silence.
“So, what? We just wait for him to get here?” I take a seat on the brown leather couch while Ryder stands in the middle of the room. “That's the plan.”
“And we're just gonna talk to him.” Ryder says nothing.
“Right, Ryder? You've got to remember that he's not an Alpha like you, so no fighting, okay?”
Ryder grits out. “Whatever you say.”
We waited a full hour and when we thought he'd be a no show, we were both startled by the sound of the back door slamming.
We remain quiet from our positions, waiting for Max to appear. There's no surprise when he shows less than a minute later without any sign of an injury from the fight with Ryder.
He stares at the broken down door in confusion. “What the fuck man?” Max looks at Ryder with a disapproving frown.
Something tells me that it wasn't a good idea to come here after all.
Ryder sighs and looks at him with a bored expression, “Sit down. We need to talk.”
“About what? What could be that bad of a reason to kick my door down?”
I stand from the couch. “I tried to call and text but you wouldn't answer.”
Max scoffs. “And you've done this because I didn't answer the phone?” He indicates the mess Ryder's done.
“Please Max, we just want to talk.”
Max shakes his head. “I don't need to do anything, Alice. I'd appreciate it if you both left.”
“It'll only take a couple of minutes.” I take a step towards him.
He tenses his jaw. “I said no, I won't ask you again.”
Ryder moves to stand in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest. “You are going to talk because we came here for a reason, and we're not gonna leave until you give us what we need.”
Max rolls his eyes. “And what is it that you need from me?”
“Answers.” I take another step towards him.
“What answers could you possibly want from me?” He glares intensely at both of us.
“Well first, how about you tell us asshole ”
I stop Ryder. “Ryder, please.” I give him a look to indicate that I'll do the talking. I can't risk him pissing off Max before we get any answers.
I clear my throat and begin my interrogation. “Do you remember that day, out by the football field when I saw you on crutches?”
“Of course I remember. It's kinda hard to forget being in a fight that happened on my first day of school.” He stares at Ryder.
Ryder's posture goes rigid as he stares directly back at Max. “What the fuck are you looking at?”
Yeah, maybe bringing Ryder was a bad idea.
Max wheezes. “Who do you think I'm looking at? I'm looking at you asshole considering you're the one who's beaten the crap out of me twice already!”
Ryder pushes himself off the couch, grabs Max by the collar of his shirt and slams him against the wall.
“Ryder, stop it!” I shout, hoping that Ryder's not stupid enough to make this situation worse than it already is.
“Say that again Fields. I fucking dare you!”
Max ignores Ryder and looks at me. “Why is it that girls always fall for the guy that thinks he's a hero when in reality, he just looks like a complete idiot?”
“Shut your mouth.” Ryder slams him against the wall again.
Max chuckles. “Is this going to be round three? I gotta tell you, Ryder. I wasn't prepared for a fight today.”
Ryder growls. “When are you gonna stop with the lies, Max? What are you trying to achieve here?”
Max smiles. “Wouldn't you like to know?”
Before Ryder has another chance to slam Max against the wall again, I approach both men and separate them.
“Now, before this gets out of hand, I think it's best if I speak with Max alone.” I glance briefly at Ryder.
His head swings to me. “Over my dead fucking body.”
I stand in front of him. “I know what I'm doing. So, go and wait for me in the car.”
Ryder stares at Max with his fists clenched. “Answer every question she has for you, otherwise I'll be coming for you, and believe me when I say that you won't like the way I do things.” With that, he storms out of the house leaving me and Max alone.
I can feel from inside that she hates being here even more than I do, but I pray to the heavens that she won't do anything reckless.
Stay calm.
“Remember when you told me that nothing's going on between you two? I find that really hard to believe.”
I sigh. “Can we just get this whole thing over and done with?”
Max looks down at the floor. “Fine.”
I take a deep breath. “I wanna know how you've recovered so quickly from the fights that you've been in because correct me if I'm wrong, but you were beaten to a pulp on two separate occasions. The first one was when I saw you out on the football field and the second time was at Ryder's party.” I clear my throat and continue. “You were beaten so badly that wounds like that normally take days to recover, but for some reason with you after a day there's not even a scratch to be found. How do you explain that?”
I watch him take in my words. I wonder what's running through his mind.
Is it possible that he could be thinking of ways to lie to me?
He simply just shrugs. “Maybe I just heal quicker than others. Maybe I know how to look after myself after being in a fight.”
“Enough of the lies, Max.”
Max leans forward. “I'm not lying to you, Alice. You were there with me that night Ryder and I fought. You helped me when everyone else just stared and laughed at the new kid getting the crap beaten out of him. But not you.”
“Are you trying to avoid answering the question?”
“So what if I am? Are you going to call Ryder and ask him to beat the answers out of me?”
I scoff. “Of course not. Violence doesn't solve anything. If anything it makes things worse.”
“I couldn't agree more.” Max stays silent for awhile then sighs. “So, what's your next question?”
“You haven't answered this question.”
He frowns. “I did answer it. Did I not tell you about how I recover so fast? But seeing as you chose to ignore that, then I suggest that we're done here.”
“Why have you grown so rude?”
He sighs in annoyance. “Alice, I've only been here a week and people are already calling me a liar. I've been beaten up twice for telling the truth and yet people still accuse me of being a liar. So, I apologise if I appear to be a little pissed off about that.”
I reach for my braid and rest it over my shoulder. 'So, are you saying that everything you've said, is the absolute truth?”
Max grins. “I always tell the truth, and I definitely wouldn't lie to you. Especially you, Alice. We're friends.”
Here it goes.
“Then answer me this, why did you lie about where your mum works?”
His smile immediately vanishes. “What?” Have I really caught him in a lie?
“Don't even try to get yourself out of this one. Ever since I saw you in that hospital chair looking as though I'd caught you doing something I probably wasn't supposed to see, bothered me a lot.” I walk to stand opposite him and cross my arms over my chest. “That night after the party, I asked my mother about if she knew a woman who worked at the hospital with your surname. Can you guess what the answer was?”
Max doesn't say anything. He only looks at me with an anxious expression.
“She said nobody works at the hospital with the surname Fields.” I shake my head. “It actually disgusts me that you've sat there and lied through your teeth.'
“Enough! Get out of my house!”
“What are you trying to do? Are you trying to dig a hole deeper for yourself?”
He snarls. “I don't need to explain myself to you.” “No, because you'd be lying to me anyway.”
Max gets up from the couch and stands directly in front of me, his breathing short and rapid. “Stop saying that.”
“But it's true though, isn't it? You're a liar Max, and you need to get your shit together!”
He merely shakes his head and murmurs. “You don't know shit.” He indicates for the door. “Shut the door on your way out but oh wait, I don't even have a fucking door after what your boyfriend did to it.” He walks away leaving me alone in the living area.
I stand there for quite some time thinking about what happened here today. A part of me feels relieved that I got to ask Max the questions that've been bothering me for quite some time, but the other part of me feels that I haven't really accomplished anything.
I know that Max didn't really cooperate much but his face said enough to make me realize that he's a liar, and he's not someone I can associate with anymore.
This was your last chance to prove that you could've been someone that I could trust, but you continued to lie. And for that, I won't be listening to another one of your lies.